Kelly used to be a riot grrrl — one of those feminist grungers who stalked the ‘90s, putting out records, home-printed ‘zines and manifestoes with equal passion.

Now she’s a suburban mom — with a baby who won’t stop crying, a husband who’s never home and an arms-length community of mommy groups who patronize her with a “check us out online.”

The transition has not been easy.

It soon gets harder in “Kelly & Cal” once Cal appears — a local teen with a wheelchair, a spinal injury, a cynical attitude and a tendency to peep on Kelly with his telescope. They soon form a love/hate relationship — and then something more.

“Kelly & Cal” is a first feature from Jen McGowan (and a first-produced-script from Amy Lowe Starbin) and it assembles a couple of easy situations and characters early on — too-hip-for-the-suburbs mom, mordant disabled kid, Mrs. Robinson syndrome.

But the enthusiasm of the young people involved, and the skill of the veterans, keep it interesting.

One of the brightest spots is its star, Juliette Lewis. Never anybody’s manic-pixie-dreamgirl, the defiantly quirky Lewis grabbed eyes in the early ‘90s with “Cape Fear,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” “Kalifornia” and “Natural Born Killers.”

But there was never anything easy or accommodating about her persona, and lately she’s become the best thing in mediocre movies — the sour coworker, the sassy friend, the screw-up sister. The actress who’s too interesting to be the star.

She gets a rare leading role here, and Lewis fills it with all the complicated, simultaneously contradictory moments she’s capable of — pride and embarrassment, primness and flirtation.

It’s not the story of a woman doing a bit of cradle-robbing. It’s the story of a teenager who can’t quite believe she is a woman, and her youth is 20 years in the past. (Also, to the filmmakers credit, they don’t push things too far — this relationship feels inappropriate, but not criminal.)

Director Jen McGowan, who first trained as an actress, shows real empathy for the rest of her cast, too. Jonny Weston is just sullen enough as the teenage Cal. And Cybill Shepherd makes an appearance as Kelly’s mother-in-law, a traditionally comic figure who — here, at least — is, however pushy, operating out of real concern.

And there is reason to be concerned about Kelly, who may be fighting off some post-partum depression as well. She’s having trouble bonding with her constantly fussy infant (whom her husband can calm with infuriating ease). She’s exhausted, and lonely.

All of which pushes her to find some way to connect to something, anything. Or anyone.

“Kelly & Cal” is a small and contained movie, limited to a few Long Island neighborhoods and a few characters. Nothing too shocking happens, nor does the film end in some completely unpredictable way. It’s a modest pleasure.

But for parents who still twitch at the word “Ferberization,” it will bring several nods of understanding. And to an actress who may be just too hard for our softboiled cinema, it gives a welcome chance to breathe.